RUITH
by 60sec400
Summary: A small excursion to Maine left six of the seven sitting in deep summer heat and talking with quite an unusual goddess after quite a history lesson. And a small blow to Jason. World-building. One-shot.


**An idea I had if the Celtic gods and goddess existed in the Percy Jackson world, which I'm sure they do but they might be too close to the Norse for Rick's liking. I had some fun with this! It's a little dialogue heavy but isn't that long. It was cool do to some research for this!**

 **I am in now way receiving any money from the production of this piece, it belongs to Rick Riordan and it strictly for the entertainment of myself and other fans. Enjoy!**

* * *

"Do you think there are, like, other gods?" Piper asked, leaning forward on her elbows. She dabbed at her forehead, the summer heat pulling at their clothes with sweat. Percy played with a ball of water in his hand, Jason watching over his shoulder with half-interest and half-yearning, and Annabeth leaned over onto her boyfriend's shoulder, waving herself down with her hand. She looked up at Piper and frowned.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Like, other gods," Piper said, "like how there were Romans and Greeks."

"Egyptians," Percy but in, his hand twisting the water in his hands. Jason leaned forward and Frank sat up.

"Egyptians?"

"Don't ask," Percy muttered. "But that does remind me to visit Carter again."

Piper ignored them, brushing her choppy hair behind in a ponytail. She wrapped her hair in the bandanna "But I mean. Okay so, there are Romans and the Greeks and, apparently, Egyptian. Is there, you know, Celtic gods or maybe…" she paused, "Native American?"

They all paused. Hazel looked like she wanted to throw up, her hair tied up in a bun with curly strands falling around her face. Frank was twirling in her hair in his fingers.

Jason frowned. "Celtic. That wouldn't be good."

Annabeth sat up. "Historically, no, but who knows. The Greeks and Romans were all over each other. I mean, if you think about it. The Romans loved the Greeks."

"Did they though?"

"Yes," Annabeth and Piper chorused and then high fived. Annabeth cleared her throat and wiped her hand on her jean shorts of sweat. "Yes, the Romans loved Greek art and architecture and philosophy and sent their rich kids over to Greece to study in the philosophies. I mean, yes, I think it was the competiveness of the demigods. And the gods conflicting personalities, which makes sense given the huge difference and you know, with whole, conquering Greece to be part of the Empire thing."

"You say it like it's a bad thing," Jason said.

Annabeth sipped at her iced tea. "Says the Roman living at the Greek camp," she chirped, looking at him over her tea. Jason opened his mouth but couldn't figure out a response to dignify his offense. Instead her sunk lover into his chair and grabbed Piper's hand. Percy snickered.

The daughter of Aphrodite was smiling. As much she knew that Jason didn't care, Annabeth was right. "Okay but the Celtics. What did they do?"

"Barbarians," Frank said and then stiffened. "You know, according to legend and stuff. They kinda…"

"Didn't they get conquered by the empire?" Annabeth said.

"Oh and uh, guess who did?" Jason said, grinning. Annabeth sat up and Percy's head rolled back and he shaped the ball of water in multiple shapes. He knew where this was going.

"The Greeks. And guess what language they spoke in Constantinople? Oh, um Greek," Annabeth said. Her grey eyes were lighting up and she was thinking ten different things at once, her thoughts all moving at the same time. "Until, oh… what was that? 1457? Oh and guess what they called themselves, Roman? And weren't they conquered by the Persians, who the Greeks took out in the 300s and had an empire all the way to India, or something?"

Jason was pursing his lips. "Fair enough, okay. We lasted longer."

"Debatable, you also had Commodus as an emperor and you know, endless wars against the Gauls? And then the empire was split and stuff and, you know, it's cool you didn't have four separate Tetrarchs. Didn't I bring up Constantinople already?" she asked, a lilt in her voice. Percy was trying to hide his grin beneath his fingers and Piper and Hazel were sharing slightly proud if not reddened looks. Jason had his hand slightly reached across the table for some semblance of a counter argument but the daughter of Athena's eyes were shining almost as much as the sun with information and intelligence.

The sun was moving across the sky and they were sitting in what was supposed to not be a cool place, Maine, with the heat bearing down on them. It was supposed to be a getaway from San Francisco and away from Camp, and Chiron had recommended a nice town up in Maine by where some of the Party Ponies lived. Of course, all of them had their weapons at the ready because six demigods wouldn't attract any monsters at all. Except that the cool Maine summer they'd be expecting was not what they received. The heat was intense and when they'd arrived it was on a radio that it was the hottest summer in fifty years. And it was obvious. Except now they'd travelled this far and so they sat outside a café and all ordered lemonade or ice tea.

"But okay, the celts," Piper said. A woman grabbed a chair and dragged the iron across the concrete. The Demigods all jumped and reached for the weapons but the woman smiled kindly and swept her hand across them. They all froze.

"Now," he accent was European. "What did you call them? Um, I'm sorry, barbarians?" Her hair was a flaming red, like Rachel's, but it fell in straight strands down her back. Her eyes were a deep, watery green with no whites or pupils, and flashed like light filtering through water. On her back was a large sword and she wore armor but in a small shimmer of magic and the clothes were replaced with regular jeans and a t-shirt. Her accent was Scottish.

 _RUITH_

"You know, it's not often I find the offspring of children of the Gods of the South here, but I can't say I am complaining. Waitress, may I had a glass of lemonade?" She stopped a short dark-skinned girl by grabbing her on the wrist. The girl nodded as if dazed and wandered back into the restaurant.

"You're a goddess," Annabeth said, the spell on them fading. She didn't dare reach for her dagger. A fear settled in all of them and the sun soon became unbearably hot. Percy felt the sweat roll down his forehead. Piper dabbed at her neck.

"A pleasure, Daughter of Wisdom, my name is Scathach, but you may address me as Scatha," Scatha said, her voice light. She played with the napkin on her lap, smoothing it out and creasing it again. It seemed oddly human for a such a powerful creature. She turned to Percy, the watery eyes lighting up so they seemed more golden.

"A Son of the Ocean. It is truly an honor," she reached her hand forward for him to shake it. "It is not often I meet an offspring of the sea." She turned to the rest of them. She radiated power and it pulsated through the air with an intense fear attached to it. Percy wondered if she was like Phoebus and Deimos, but he slowly reached his hand forward, leaving the floating ball of water in the air by itself. They shook hands.

 _RUITH_

"A Son of Sky, a Son of War, a Daughter of Death, and a Daughter of Beauty. My, you are a group. Certainly attractive to monsters," Scatha said. She looked around them with her strange eyes. "But, I didn't come here to discuss Greek _uilebheistean,_ " she turned to Annabeth, who stiffened and then looked at Jason. His face was hard but they could all see the fear in his eyes. The goddess's eyes shined and she leaned forward expectantly. "I came here to talk history." She sat back and relaxed, the waitress bringing the lemonade before high-tailing it out of there. She sipped a little at the drink before setting it down.

"Do we want to discuss the Legion? Or the endless wars fought with the Gaels in their country?"

"We don't represent our history," Jason said, but his voice was weak. He tried to shake off the cold fear that had creeped up on him at the appearance of the goddess. But he and Percy shared eye-contact everyone and a while, but to no avail they were stuck.

Scatcha turned to look Jason in the eye.

 _RUN,_ the voice in his head screamed. _DANGER— RUN! RUITH!_

"I find that hard to believe Son of the Sky," her appearance flickered then. Not back to her first outfit, but to a shadowy figure with green glowing eyes. The image returned to a regular woman. She snapped her fingers and her hair began to fix itself into a braid. Hazel sat up, curious at the display of magic and the mist. She didn't know the mist could be used like that. "Given, of course, that you were discussing it as if you were. Unless I was mistaken and wrongly intruded, but it's not in a Goddess's nature to be wrong. At least, not in mine."

They all figured it was alluding to what she was the goddess of— Annabeth's mind was throwing out all the Celtic gods and goddess because this woman was clearly in that troop, but Scatha came up short.

 _RUITH!_

Scatha finished off her lemonade and set the napkin on the table. It was folded several times over. The shape made a bird. A crow. A figure of prophecy. Of bad tidings. She watched them all figure it out and laughed.

"Oh, worry not, Demigods, it's not for you. The people of Danu have their own children with their own destinies and stories. But, Daughter of Beauty."

Piper's kaleidoscope eyes snapped up to Scatha. The goddess was beautiful— her eyes bore into Piper's, making her squirm. None of the gods she'd had to deal with did this to her, especially not her mother. Aphrodite wasn't known for being frightening though. As Piper stared at her, a voice in her head told her to run, and the goddess's face began to transform. Blue painted makeup twisted itself around her eyes and cheek. "There are many gods and goddess. Greek and Roman, and Egyptian as you've heard, there are Chinese and Persian," she turned to Annabeth now, "Norse."

The blonde girl sniffed.

"Polynesian. We are all here," Scatha finished. "We are all alive and kicking and screaming. Believe it or not, and it would not be good to question this, Daughter of Beauty." Scatha smiled. She had entirely transformed. She lacked armor now, but she had two long strands of hair braided and the rest flowing free over a deep green cloak. Underneath she wore a white wool dress with a gold clasp around her waist. A sword was attached to her back and strapped across her chest underneath her cloak. "I was fortunate to be here and educate yourselves on this."

Annabeth leaned forward. "What are you doing in America, the Celts were never the heart of the west?" she was breathing heavily, and they all wondered if Annabeth was feeling the same instinctive fear that they all were facing. Drums beat in her forehead, pulsing to the sound of her heartbeat. Scatha looked perturbed for a moment but sighed, as if she were a teacher tired of hearing the same question every year.

"Because, Annabeth," it was the first time she'd addressed them directly, "we move with the heart of humanity. It is why the Egyptians are here. The heart of the west. And Albion is in the west. It is just as much of the heart as your Greek and Roman gods are. We will always follow, whether we want to or not."

None of them knew what she meant by Albion. Percy looked as if he were piecing something he'd heard a long time ago together like a puzzle. He sat forward, his hand gripping the iron chair Annabeth was seated on.

"Um," Hazel said, humming as she spoke, "what are you the goddess of, if it is appropriate to ask?"

Scatha frowned and everyone tensed but the goddess laughed instead. It was free. She barely looked like the warrior that appeared before them, but all of them knew she could use that sword better than anyone there. She smiled. "I have many names, but I am a Warrior. I am your Pallas Athena. I am your Hecate. I am your Apollo. I am wisdom, healing and prophecy, I am magic. I am Scathach. _Tha mi nam Faileas_." Her voice rippled with powerful magic. " But I am your friend. If you ever require aid in the Northern Lands, I will help you. Gaia was not your last quest, nor will it be your most difficult. Heed my warning, Demigods, for this is not your last."

She stood up, her mirage flickering back to a normal woman, and then she changed to her armor again. "And Jason Grace? I believe we still have your Legions Eagle." And then she winked at Annabeth and disappeared in gold green light.

* * *

 **So the Roman had sent up an entire Legion of people to fight off the gaels/druids/picts and the entire Legion was destroyed, along with an Eagle that was never found. It was probably melted down, in real life, but I like the idea of the Celts keeping it as a token. It was huge blow to the Romans, who looked to the people along their boarder as Barbarians. It's part of why Hadrian's wall was built!**

 **Translations:**

 ** _ruith_ \- to run**

 _ **uilebheistean-**_ **monsters**

 ** _Tha mi nam Faileas-_ I am the shadows **


End file.
